Editing Word play (section)

{{short description|Form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work}}
{{redirect|Wordplay}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
[[File:ABOVE wordplay from LIMA PERU.JPG|thumb|Artist Tavar Zawacki painted a site-specific wordplay painting in [[Lima, Peru]], commenting on the [[cocaine]] [[Illegal drug trade in Peru|crisis and exportation]].]]

'''Word play''' or '''wordplay'''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/wordplay?view=get |title=definition of wordplay |publisher=Oxford Dictionaries Online |access-date=6 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811041808/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/wordplay?view=get |archive-date= Aug 11, 2011 }}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> (also: '''play-on-words''') is a [[literary technique]] and a form of [[wit]] in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or [[amusement]]. Examples of word play include [[pun]]s, phonetic mix-ups such as [[spoonerism]]s, obscure words and meanings, clever [[rhetoric]]al excursions, oddly formed sentences, [[double entendre]]s, and telling character names (such as in the play ''[[The Importance of Being Earnest]]'', ''Ernest'' being a [[given name]] that sounds exactly like the adjective ''earnest'').

Word play is quite common in [[oral culture]]s as a method of reinforcing meaning. Examples of text-based ([[orthography|orthographic]]) word play are found in languages with or without alphabet-based scripts, such as [[homophonic puns in Mandarin Chinese]].